Music and Cats

Our party was - if I do say so myself - a success. It seems that a good time was had by all, and certainly by Paul and me. Over the course of the afternoon, we had about 25 people in the house, 20% of whom were under the age of eight. Sasha and Sergei retreated to the upstairs; Sergei hid so well that, for a while, I thought perhaps he'd gotten out of the house. Lyra (aka Princess Affection Sponge) decided that all these people were here to pay attention to her... and as she is beautiful, soft and sweet, most folks were willing to oblige.

Our friends fortunately did a fine job of consuming the chocolate treats over which I labored for a number of hours this weekend. (I say fortunately because I did not want leftover chocolate treats around the house.) I was going to write about said treats, their recipes, procedures and pitfalls, but I'm just too tired. However, as a teaser, here are the ingredient lists for the three chocolate treats served at the party.

Mystery Recipe #1:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 sticks unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Mystery Recipe #2:
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon dry instant espresso
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 7/8 cup brown sugar
5 eggs, large
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, sifted
1 cup crystallized ginger

Mystery Recipe #3:
1 pound semisweet chocolate
2 tablespoons dry instant espresso
2/3 cup boiling water
10 eggs, separated

Can you tell me for what recipes these are the ingredients? Anyone?

I'll provide the names of and instructions for these recipes tomorrow. Now, to sleep.

p.s. Thanks to all who left well wishes in the comments of my last post. Paul and I both appreciated them.